OMS International entered Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2000 to partner with local churches in the Village Church Planting Program (VCP). VCP teams train bi-vocational Christian leaders to start new churches in villages where no church exists. These church planters study Bible, theology and practical church planting as they evangelize and make disciples. All church leaders are taught that healthy churches grow and multiply. Bi-vocational pastoral workers must establish their church and begin planting a daughter church before they can graduate from the three-year training program.

We praise God for what He's done in 2008 through ECC:

• Decisions for Christ: 24,547
• Baptism: 1,762
• Attending: 67,984
• People in discipleship or lay-leadership training: 2,441
• Churches established: 672

Bateke Plateau

Coordinator: Isaac Luaba

Isaac Luaba founded an association of churches in 2003 named Communaute Evangelique la Bonne Nouvelle (CEBN), Evangelical Community of the Good News. By God's grace, he and his fellow Christian believers have been pronouncing God's Good News on the Bateke Plateau, a previously-unreached area to the south and east of Kinshasa.

Isaac received a master's degree in Theology in 1989 from the Protestant University of Kinshasa. He served as a Mennonite pastor in the central DRC city of Mbuji-Mayi from his graduation through 1994. In 1995, he moved back to the capital city of Kinshasa and pastored a church there until 2002. In late 2002, he met Bruce Bennett and Emmanuel Tshilenga of the Into Africa Project for the first time, and caught the vision for village church planting.

When Isaac arrived on the Bateke Plateau, there was virtually no Christian witness in the area. In March 2003, he started the first church plant in Menkao, which gave birth to daughter churches in surrounding villages. This was followed by the initiation of church planter training centers in Bita and Mpuki Nsele. By late 2008, the CEBN association had about 11,000 members meeting at 150 locations. Isaac and his wife, Godelive, have five children and live in the market town of Menkao.

The witness of God's truth has resulted in the transformation of individuals as well as the society on the Bateke Plateau. The practice of fetishism and other religious traditions has decreased significantly in the area. Village chiefs have heard God's truth and have accepted Jesus as their Savior. Isaac and other Christians have begun two schools with plans for eight more, and have begun a community health clinic in a remote area.